Girl Meets Ring Power
by carathay
Summary: Katy has proposed to Shawn and he has accepted. But there's one little thing missing... An engagement ring. A ring can be an important sign of commitment and will, in some ways, test all of our characters. Originally going to be titled 'Girl Meets Fluffy Dresses.' Lucaya/Shaty.
1. Chapter 1

Girl Meets Ring Power

Author's note – This is a sequel to Girl Meets Names. Lucaya. And Shaty. Actually, Shaty is kind of the point…. Was going to be Girl Meets Fluffy Dresses but I like the new title better. I imagine someone's used it before but… It just fits. PS – I'm not sure if the show ever specified if Katy and Kermit had officially married or not… And so I'm writing this in a way that it doesn't matter.

Katy was sitting at home on her couch. Or bed. Technically it was both. She could only afford a one bedroom apartment and she'd given Maya the bedroom in an effort to provide some sort of a normal life for her. Now that Katy was working at the bakery for Topanga, she was actually managing to put some money aside each month. She hoped it would be enough to afford moving to a better place soon. One where she would have her own room. And maybe, also soon, share that room with Shawn? That thought always put a smile on her face.

Katy was very, very tired of facing the world alone. She hadn't exactly minded all of the sacrifices she'd made for Maya but sometimes it got a little old. And all of the extra hours and effort had left her a little disconnected from her daughter. It was difficult to not to resent the Matthews family. They'd basically stepped in and filled the void she'd been unable to fill in Maya's life. Cory had, to a large degree, given Maya a father figure in her life. And somehow Topanga had time to do the things that Katy didn't. That didn't make a lot of sense because if any of those law TV shows were correct, lawyers typically worked around 60 hours per week. How could she do that and manage to be home from time to time? Katy had, until recently, worked just about as many hours, albeit for far lower wages. And sometimes she wouldn't even see Maya for a couple of days. The entire situation would have made her furious if the Matthews didn't take such good care of her daughter. Still, it was hard not to be envious. Her new job at the bakery was for much better wages than she'd gotten before and Topanga had insisted that she work more reasonable hours and so life had finally gotten a bit easier. That helped to reduce the resentment as well.

Pity that the kids never tipped…

Katy hoped that once she and Shawn were married and settled, she could balance the scales a little. Maybe help Riley through some part of life that Topanga or Cory weren't ready for. They were lucky, luckier than she thought either one of them had ever realized. They hadn't seen a lot of failure in their lives. That was just about all Katy had ever seen and so he was very used to picking herself back up and finding a new way to get things done. "Huh." She thought. "I guess it hasn't been a total waste of time for things to be this hard." She hoped it would be easier even once she was married and no longer facing these problems all by herself.

Married. That word made Katy look down at her ring finger. It was sadly empty. The engagement with Shawn was going wonderfully. Somehow the word 'fiancé' really did feel better than 'boyfriend' ever had. Previously they'd just seen each other whenever Shawn was in town. Now he was in town more which meant she saw him more. Even better, they now talked when they couldn't see each other. Sometimes just a hello or a check in with the other person. Sometimes soft and romantic conversations where she found herself whispering and hiding under her pillow so that Maya wouldn't overhear. Everything was going so well that she was almost able to ignore the thing they'd forgotten.

Nearly, but not entirely.

Proposing to Shawn on her own had left her without something she'd always coveted, a proper engagement ring. She didn't think Shawn had even realized that the idea of a ring had been lost in the shuffle. She wasn't sure how to bring it up. She proposed, so technically she should have given Shawn a ring. And then they should have gotten her one. That's now it worked when a guy proposed to a girl. But everything had happened so fast with her and Shawn and, well, once the moment had passed it felt silly to bring the idea back up. This was the second time she'd been disappointed on that score. When she and Kermit had played at the idea of being married, she'd wanted a ring but they had been broke and she'd never gotten one. Just like she'd never gotten the partner that she'd wanted in life. Kermit. Holy Christmas, his name really was Kermit. Was it too soon to laugh at herself for conceiving a child with a man named after a Muppet? She thought about it. "Yep. Still too soon." She said out loud.

"What's too soon?" asked Maya, walking out of her room.

Katy quickly decided that repeating her doubts and fears to her teenage daughter was a bad idea. So, she scrambled for something to fill the lull. "Umm – Too soon for you to have a boyfriend." She said.

That was probably a safe topic. Maya expected her mother to be protective or somehow disapprove of her boyfriend. And so Katy played the part, acting all worried if Maya got home a few minutes late or maybe her clothes were just a little bit ruffled. "You make sure that boy behaves himself!" she'd say to Maya. The expected 'Mom!' or eye roll would follow and the world would go back to normal. But honestly, Katy wasn't worried in the least. Lucas was too nice of a boy to get up to any real mischief. I mean, 'boys will be boys' was the idea when she was growing up but… Not that one. And the world was getting a little better on that score. So let her daughter enjoy being young with someone who Katy knew wouldn't hurt her. Well, he wouldn't hurt her on purpose. As for hurting her on accident, well, that wasn't something you could plan for.

Maya laughed. "You didn't think it was too soon when he was Riley's boyfriend."

"That's because Riley isn't my daughter. I love her to death but it just isn't the same." Katy bantered back. It was so nice to hear happiness in her daughter's voice. She was used to sullen, quiet, or disenchanted. Not cheery. Cheery with her Mom wasn't Maya's style. Maybe it wouldn't last but Katy would take it as long as she could get it.

"Nice to know you care, Mom. Anyway, I'm off to get into some mischief. See you later." When she waved, Katy noticed a glint of metal on Maya's finger.

"Hey, what's that on your finger? Did Lucas propose or something?" Katy teased.

"No Mom. Lucas hasn't proposed. And I'm really disappointed." Maya deadpanned. "But it's still early in the week so I haven't lost all hope… I'm kidding. It's my friendship ring from Riley."

"Friendship ring?" Katy asked.

"It's silly but, well, it's a connection between Riley and me. When one of us needs to other to go along with something and they are resisting, we shout 'Ring Power' and the other has to go along. Usually it's Riley doing the shouting." Maya paused for a second. "Mostly it's used when one of us is being a butthead. Hence, usually me."

"Do you have any other people in this 'ring power' group?" Katy asked.

"Not so far." Maya replied.

"Good. Just to be clear? You are not allowed to get all ring powered up with Lucas. Got it? Not until you're a lot older." Katy said seriously.

"Why?" Maya asked, genuinely concerned. "Do you really think Lucas would force me to do something I shouldn't?"

"No dear. I don't think Lucas would do a thing." Katy said, trying not to laugh. "You on the other hand… Well, I'm afraid of what you might make HIM do."

Maya giggled. It sounded innocent when it started and but sounded pretty naughty by the end. "Might?" she asked her mother. Then she waved at her mom again and headed out the door.

Katy kicked herself. "I really shouldn't give that girl ideas." Then she looked down at her empty hand again. "That's what I need. Ring power."


	2. Chapter 2

Girl Meets Ring Power

Author's note – This is a sequel to Girl Meets Names. Lucaya. And Shaty. Actually, Shaty is kind of the point…. Was going to be Girl Meets Fluffy Dresses but I like the new title better. I imagine someone's used it before but… It just fits. Forgive some of the lesson details – I'm trying to sum up a LOT of history to make a point. Many thanks to Alexanna – who is still 13 and helps me come up with wonderful ideas.

Riley turned her entire bedroom upside down again. She did take a moment to enjoy flinging herself into the pile of pillows and blankets. There were some pleasures in this world that could not be ignored. Then she went back to worrying and searching. The friendship ring that she shared with Maya was missing. Riley wasn't even sure when it had disappeared. When she'd woken up this morning and stretched, it hadn't been on her hand. It was getting late though and she needed to leave for school. Time for a disguise. A cunning subtle disguise. With that thought in mind, she reached inside her dresser and pulled out a pair of dress gloves that went all the way to the elbow. She put them on and looked at them. They were almost perfect. She reached into her hair ties and put three of them on one arm and two on the other. Perfect.

She went out to breakfast. Her dad was just finishing and looked up when she came through the door. "Gloves. Long ones. In Spring. Yeah, you're hiding something." He said.

"Is it that obvious?" Riley wailed. She collapsed into her chair and let her chin hit the table.

"Extremely." Said her dad as he finished gathering up his things for school. "Well, I'm off. See you there."

Riley's head popped back up off the table. "Aren't you going to ask me what I'm hiding?"

Her dad looked her up and down briefly. "Nope." He said and headed out.

Riley let her head hit the table again. Sure she'd wanted to hide that the ring was missing but when her dad had noticed the gloves, she'd hoped he'd ask questions. It felt better to confess before things went too far. And maybe he would even have a solution for her. No luck though. She pulled the gloves off and flung them back toward her room. Time to face the music.

As always, she and Maya met up on the way to school. Riley tried to hide her hands whenever Maya looked at her. It was blatantly obvious what she was doing and Maya rather enjoyed pretending she didn't notice it until they got into class. Knowing that Riley would probably explode if she didn't get to confess whatever was wrong, Maya finally took pity on her and asked. She looked right at Riley. "Show me your hands." She commanded.

Riley showed Maya the hand she didn't wear the ring on. "See? All nice and normal." She said.

"And now the other one…" Maya prompted.

"Umm, sure." said Riley. And she bent that hand around behind her back so a little bit of it protruded from the other side. Maya just looked at her steadily. Riley smiled. Maya's look started to get a bit flinty. Riley smiled again nervously. They both sat there for a few more moments staring each other down. They were interrupted by Farkle's voice.

"Hey Riley. Where's your ring?" he asked.

Riley turned to Farkle. "Drat! Did you have to point it out? I almost had Maya fooled. I was winning!"

Maya chuckled. "You thought you were winning? By doing that?" she gestured at Riley's twisted arm. "That's so cute. So out with it. Where's your ring?"

"I… I… I couldn't find it this morning. I tore my room apart but I couldn't find it." Riley said mournfully.

"How much of that time involved jumping into your pillows?" asked Maya knowingly.

Grudgingly, Riley nodded. "I only jumped onto them once. OK, twice." She admitted. "But I didn't enjoy it."

"I'm glad you had a little fun." Said Maya as she went to pull out her sketchbook.

"But aren't you upset?" asked Riley. "I lost our friendship ring!"

"Not particularly." Answered Maya, flipping through pages and looking for the last picture she'd been working on.

Riley was shocked. "Why not? I'd be extremely upset if you lost yours."

"And if that ever happens, you should be. But, I'm not you. I'm not upset even one little bit." Said Maya glibly.

"But…" started Riley, starting to really get upset herself.

"There are two reasons I'm not upset. First, you're going to find it. You always find things eventually. It's almost spooky. You panic that they're gone and then they magically show up later. Second, until you find it, you can't call ring power." Maya smirked. "So, for example, if I was tempted to pull the fire alarm…" It was obvious she was kidding.

"Ring Pow…" Riley started to say, and then stopped.

"Or maybe turn around and kiss Lucas right this second…" Maya teased further.

"You wouldn't! Not in the middle of class?" Maya started to turn "Ri…" was as far as Riley got before just staring at Maya in horror.

Maya turned back around and smiled. "That's right. You can't stop me."

Lucas's voice cut into the conversation. "Maybe Riley couldn't stop you, but I could." He said.

Maya slowly turned around looked through her eyelashes at him. "Really Hopalong? You'd actually try to stop me if I leaned back and kissed those strong lips of yours?" Maya languorously dragged out the words. Then she ran her fingers lightly down the side of Lucas's face. "Right. This. Minute?"

"I… might?" Said Lucas. He was actually impressed with himself that he'd managed to speak at all.

"You might, darlin'?" asked Maya, batting her eyelashes at him and going all country. "Are ya sure?"

Lucas blushed. Then he tried to speak. No words came out.

Maya turned back toward the front of the room. "I love it when I win." She said to no one in particular.

"Maya? No breaking Lucas in class. We've talked about this" Said Mr. Matthews, who had obviously been watching the exchange.

Maya looked into his face and her look of triumph turned to defeat. "Sorry."

"Thank you." Said Mr. Matthews. "Okay, now that we've settled that, let's get back to talking about the start of World War I. Who remembers what we talked about yesterday?"

Maya spoke up. "I do. It was the assassination of that hungry guy."

"If by that you mean the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the archduke of Austria-Hungary, you are correct. He was killed by a Serbian nationalist and his death, and all of the complicated alliances that covered the region started a war larger than anyone at the time could have even imagined."

"Alliances, sir?" asked Lucas.

"Alliances are agreements between countries. In this case, many of them involved one country agreeing to stand together with the other in the event of an attack. And there were a lot of them."

Riley joined in. "So, one country being attacked forced others to defend them? And when those countries stood up, more countries had to stand up on the other side?"

"Precisely. The idea was that all these alliances would make everybody safe. No one would pick a fight with the other side because the results would quickly get out of hand. Unfortunately, it also meant that one tiny event could escalate into disaster. But some historians see the situation as being more complicated than that."

"Seems like the cause is already complicated enough." Said Maya.

"I know it does." Said Mr. Matthews. "But stay with me. Because now we're going to talk about circles."

Farkle interrupted. "But this isn't geometry. We study circles in geometry." He sounded very upset.

"I know that Farkle..." Mr. Matthews walked over to the board and drew a circle on it in chalk. "Who can tell me where the beginning is?" he asked.

"Right there." Said Maya pointing to the spot where he had started drawing.

"Good try. But no." Said Mr. Matthews. "Farkle?"

"A circle doesn't have a beginning or an end. It's a continuous shape. No corners, no breaks. No places where it starts or stops." Said Farkle.

"Very good. Circles are interesting. They enclose an area. They control it. They are like a ring. Anything inside is contained and limited by the outside of the circle. Speaking of which, what is outside of the circle?" asked Mr. Matthews.

"Everything else." answered Riley.

"That's it exactly. It is everything that seeks to limit the inside."

"Oh great. Now you're teaching philosophy…" grumbled Farkle.

"Relax Farkle. I'm getting back to history now. Like I said earlier, the countries in Europe were all linked together by alliances. These basically formed two circles or 'rings' of power and control. Then, due to the assassination and the reactions that followed it, the countries on both sides ended up in a war larger than they could have imagined. Many historians consider Austria-Hungary and Germany to be the primary aggressors. They effectively 'caused' the war. But that isn't the entire story. Look at the two groups of countries on a map." Mr. Matthews walked over to the board and pulled down a map from above it. Then he went on. "Britain, France, and Russia, and the oceans that they controlled, effectively surrounded Germany and Austria-Hungary. Especially when Russian began to have more influence in Serbia and the Balkan areas. Their power literally encircled Germany and Austria-Hungary. And since those countries were unwilling to be contained or controlled, war was pretty much inevitable."

Riley spoke up. "Didn't each side realize how powerful their circle was?" Riley looked over at Maya, then continued. "Didn't they respect the power of their ring?"

"No, Riley. They didn't. When you have that much power over someone, well, temptation is a dangerous thing. And even if you have the best of intentions, the results of controlling them may be more frightening then you imagine."

"So, the war was the fault of Britain, France, and Russia instead?" asked Farkle.

"No. But the control and restrictions they put on Germany and Austria-Hungary certainly didn't help. I don't think they expected their influence to have the impact that it did. If there is anything to learn from this, it is that power over others can be very dangerous."

The bell rang and ended the lecture. As they gathered together their things, Riley looked at Maya. "I don't want to find my ring now."

"What do you mean?" asked Maya.

"What if I force you to do the wrong thing with it? Or don't force you to do the right one? Or you force me to do something?"

"Nothing is going to happen. We're not countries. We're not going to end up in a world war." replied Maya. "So just go home and put it back on. I'm sure it is sitting on the bathroom counter where you always take it off before you brush your hair."

Riley's face brightened as she realized Maya was right about where she'd left her ring. And then her face fell. "And that's where it's going to stay. I don't want Ring Power anymore." Riley turned and walked out of the classroom.


	3. Chapter 3

Girl Meets Ring Power

Author's note –This is almost a second lesson but it was also the only way I could think of to get the story moving. Hope you enjoy it. Many thanks to Alexanna – who is still 13 and helps me come up with wonderful ideas.

Maya had to change trains twice before she reached Shawn's apartment. She'd headed over to see him for several reasons. It start with, she missed him. Her mom and he might not be married yet but he still took the idea of trying to be a father to her pretty seriously. Enough that she knew that if somehow things did fall apart with him and her mom, Shawn would still be there for her. They talked on the phone a lot but it wasn't as good as seeing him. He was teaching her to play chess. He'd insisted on teaching her, in fact. She'd tried arguing that it was dumb. Or nerdy. Or would kill her street cred. He'd liked that last excuse but still hadn't budged. So, whenever she came over, they played at least one game. Usually it was several because she lost a lot. She'd never have admitted that she was learning chess to her friends let along admit that she really enjoyed it. Seeming to understand her desire for privacy on the matter, Shawn had kept quiet about it as well.

It also made a good excuse not to spend the afternoon with Riley. Maya really didn't have a clue why her friend had suddenly decided that keeping Maya out of trouble was too dangerous. She wasn't a country. She was a friend. Nothing was going to start a war. So she figured that something else was going on. She wasn't exactly sure what bee was in her best friend's bonnet but she hoped that Shawn could help her figure it out. Maya didn't know anyone else who was better at understanding the Matthews than he was.

Lastly, and, and the reason that she was a little bit ashamed of, she a needed a new pair of sneakers for PE. Her current ones were completely worn out and the PE teacher had started getting on her case about replacing them. She didn't want to ask her mother, even though they were doing a lot better now. Old habits die hard, she figured. And she really liked it that her mom was getting ahead on all of the bills. Extra expenses got in the way of that. But she knew Shawn was generally pretty good about requests like this. Maya didn't abuse the privilege. She came to him for needs only, not wants. Wants, well, she was used to living without those and while she really appreciated it when he decided to get her something extra, she never expected it.

As she'd hoped, Shawn already had the chess board set up and was waiting for her. There was even a glass of her favorite soda waiting next to the board. As was their habit, they jumped right into the first game. While they played, she went over her various problems. He quickly agreed to get her the shoes she needed and even insisted that they get a better and more expensive pair than she'd planned so they would last longer. Then his listened to her problems with Riley. He didn't comment a whole lot at first.

"And, checkmate." Said Shawn after what seemed like only a couple of moves this time.

"Again?" asked Maya. She scanned the board for a way that her king could escape. There wasn't one. So she grudgingly knocked her king over and then went over to flop on the couch. She wasn't ready for another game. "That was the fourth game! Why do I keep losing?" she asked him. "You'd think I'd get lucky every once in a while."

"Luck?" replied Shawn. "There isn't any luck in chess. And if that's what you were thinking, it might be your problem."

Maya looked at him confused. "There's luck in all games. Like in poker, I'm much better than Riley but she can still win if she draws the right cards."

"Chess is different. It's about looking ahead and planning for what could happen. That's why I learned to play it and why I'm teaching it to you."

"What do you mean?" asked Maya.

He arranged a few pieces on the chess board and waved at her to come look. After a few minutes of resistance, she pushed herself up and went back to the table. Shawn started explaining and moving pieces. "Look, when I was your age, and older, I never looked ahead. I only focused on the now. It took me a long time to see that my actions had consequences. It took me even longer to realize that if I tried to anticipate those consequences, sometimes I could make a different choice and get better consequences in the end." He set up a simple situation on the board. "OK – so you can move your king either left or right here to save him. Which do you choose?"

Maya looked at the board. "They both work but it's more open on the right so I'll go that way."

"You won't if you want to win. Or do well in life. The easy choice isn't always the best and you can't just flip a coin. Look. Try moving it to the right like you wanted to." She did and he continued. "By doing that, you saved him for now. Goal accomplished, right?" She nodded so Shawn continued to explain. "Watch this though." Shawn moved his pieces and quickly took her king. "It didn't matter what you did after moving right. One move later and I beat you."

Maya tried to find a way of the trap but it was no use. If you went right, you were safe for one turn and then you were toast. "You're right. I give up. I can't win."

"Never just give up." He put the pieces back where they had started out. "Look, here is the same situation but this time, go ahead and choose left." Said Shawn. She did and then they traded moves back and forth. Eventually she took his king. She crowed in delight.

Shawn laughed. "You see? That one worked out much better for you. When you looked at the situation the first time, you didn't think it mattered. Both choices were fine for the moment. And both of them saved you for one more move."

"Right!" said Maya, catching on. "But moving left let me beat you. Moving right was basically a dead end."

"Exactly. That's why I'm teaching you Chess and want you to try thinking that way in general. So you can start to look farther forward than just one move. And so that you learn to take some time in deciding things. Life is full of decisions that build on other decisions. Just like chess is. And the choices that you're making right now that don't seem to matter can have unexpected results later in life. And that's the answer to your Riley problem."

"So, what? I moved her right instead of left?" asked Maya.

"Almost. I think that Riley is upset about the rings because she's afraid she might make you move to the right. She's afraid that she might make you choose something that seems good but doesn't turn out so well in the end. It can be a scary amount of power to have."

"She'd never abuse it." Said Maya.

"Not on purpose, no. But even if you try to make the best decisions, sometimes you don't see enough steps ahead. And to do that to yourself is terrible. But to be responsible for someone else that way? It's much worse. Does that make sense?" asked Shawn.

Maya wandered away from the table, staring at her ring. Eventually she nodded. Then her eyes grew very wide. She looked at him. "Umm, Shawn? We all made of a lot of decisions a few weeks ago pretty quickly. And it all ended up in a great result. You asked me if it was all right for you to marry mom and then then she asked you and you said yes. You and Mom ended up engaged and we're all very happy about it. But we all missed something."

Shawn thought about it, then looked at her. "Whatever it is, I'm not thinking of it."

Maya shoved her hand at Shawn. "You forgot to get Mom one of these."

"I forgot to get her friendship ring? Why would I do that? We're more than friends. We're enag…" That was as far as Shawn got through the word before the realization took away his ability to speak.

Maya saw it in his eyes. "That's right. In all of the excitement and backwards proposal, you forgot to get Mom an ENGAGEMENT RING!"

Shawn's eyes moved back and forth from her hand to her eyes several times before he found the ability to speak. "That's bad, isn't it?" He said, with dread filling his voice.

Maya could only nod.


End file.
